The Avatar
by vahanian
Summary: This is an AU where all of the seven have powers from the Air bender movie.
1. Chapter 1

This is an AU where all of the seven have powers from the Air bender movie.

Joshua Faraday knew he was different when he was ten years old. While it wasn't unheard of around these parts for someone to have a bending skill, it was unheard of for someone to have more than one. In the big cities bending was very rare with perhaps one in twenty showing any signs of a skill, but the further out people moved the ratio changed to every two in ten that presented with a skill.

Josh's mother was an air bender, and what he had been told of his father, because he had left when Josh was young, he was a water bender. So when Josh had presented with an air bending skill, everyone assumed that that was his talent. He spent his days practising his air bending by flinging pebbles at some bullies and then using his gift to carry him up out of harm's way when they spotted him and gave chase.

Josh had been very proud the day that he found out that he could bend water as well, and had raced from the stream to his house to tell his ma. He sloppily showed her by bending the water from the well and making it land at her feet with a splash that had drenched both of them. He looked up at her expecting to see pride in her eyes, and was startled to find fear there instead. She ushered him into their cabin without saying a word, and it wasn't until she had shut the door and took him over to the chair to sit down that she explained that having two bending powers was unheard of and that only the mythical Avatar had more than one power. She told him that the Avatar was supposed to return in this lifetime to help fight injustice and to keep the peace, she warned him never to tell anyone as they would use him for their own purpose. She had hugged him then and had looked at him sadly, as if somehow his life was over, and maybe, Josh thought, it was. They packed up their meagre belongings that day, and in the stillness of the night they left their home. That was the first instance that Josh realised the problems he would face.

It would be another ten years and countless towns later, with his mother dead and gone the last few years, and Josh now going by the name of Faraday that he found that he could also bend Earth. It was nearing night and the bar he was in was quiet. He was in another backwater town fleecing the locals out of their money when he started to feel a tingling along his spine. Having felt this familiar sensation before when he had received his water bending powers, he quickly folded his hand, and gathering up his winnings and his hat, he hastily left the table. He ran up the stairs at the back of the bar two at a time, and on reaching the landing he went to his room and started pushing his things into his saddlebag. His powers gave him a split second warning before his door was pushed open and three men piled into his room. He had only a few seconds to recognise them as the men he had been cheating before they had cleared the room and were on him. Two held his arms while the third, Fred? hit him across the face.

"I want my money back." Said Frank? angrily. "I know you cheated. I just can't figure out how."

"Well, that's because you're not very bright". Faraday replied as he spat blood onto the floor.

"Hit him again Earl." The thug holding his arm said.

Faraday twisted his arm and using his elbow, he smashed it into the thug's nose. With a howl he let go and clutched his face, "You broke my nose." He said thickly.

Faraday quickly pushed his arms out and rolling his hands across each other he sent two streams of water gushing towards the two still standing. They sailed across the room and hit the wall. The slid down to land in a heap on the floor, neither of them got back up. The tingling was getting worse and it pushed Faraday to his knees. He braced his hands on the wood and the floor trembled violently. He watched in shock as the beams of the ceiling started to shake loose.

One fell towards him and he quickly cushioned himself in a balloon of air, so that the beam bounced harmlessly off. There was a loud roar and suddenly Faraday found himself sliding towards the window, as the saloon started to sink to one side. He staggered upright using the air to keep himself balanced, as he wobbled to the bed to reach for his saddlebag. The saloon was collapsing around him, and if he didn't escape he would be buried as well. Turning around slowly, and making sure he had his guns, Faraday ran towards the window, and using a bust of water to break the glass, he jumped through, using his air to slow his descent. The ground underneath was soft due to the water he had thrown and he rolled out of the way. He moved to the side as the building rumbled once and crumbled to the floor. He left the town that night. Some time later he heard that a renegade Earth bender was being blamed for bringing the saloon down and killing eight people. Faraday never went back to the town.

Faraday had been in Amador city less than a month before something exciting happened. He was holding court in the saloon playing a game of cards. Suddenly one of the men at the bar turned his head slowly to the door, where footsteps could be heard walking along the boardwalk. As every man turned their head to the door, and the women walked quickly towards the exit, somebody stopped just outside the door and paused there for a second as if waiting for something. The door was pushed open slowly as a tall black man entered the saloon. He glanced around the room before making his way over to the bar, everybody following his progress. The atmosphere in the bar was tense as every man waited for something to happen. The tension in the bar went higher as he began to ask about powder Dan.

Faraday relaxed back into his seat and lit a cigarette. He watched as the man at the bar suddenly fired four shots in quick succession and took out all of Dan's backup. It was then that Faraday realised that the man was Sam Chisolm, although he had never met the man, he knew him by reputation as being the fastest quick draw with his guns. He was also an incredibly powerful fire bender. Faraday took out his gun and cocked it at the man at his table who had thought to shot Chisolm and he shook his head. Faraday relaxed back and he felt a thrum of anticipation go through him as Dan went to throw his fire at Chisolm, but Sam got there first with his own fire and Dan went crashing backwards. Everybody knew that Sam Chisolm always fired first. After that everyone left the saloon pretty quickly and Faraday was left alone with Chisolm.

"That was some pretty impressive fire bending Mr Chisolm." Faraday said as he turned over the cards on the table, and winced at the bad hand he had.

"You have to be in this line of work, things can change quickly if you're not prepared." Sam turned and slowly looked Faraday up and down. "What about you? Any bending powers of your own?"

He kept his face neutral as he picked up his hat and his whiskey bottle. "Nope, I'm as ordinary as they come." He couldn't quite make himself meet Sam's eye, afraid that if he did he would be able to see the lie, so he settled for walking around the table towards the back door. "I'll be seeing you." Faraday called as the door swung shut behind him.

Faraday couldn't quite believe that he had met up with Sam so soon after he saw him in the saloon. He was arguing with the stable owner who he had apparently gambled his horse away to when he was drunk last night, but come on, he had seriously thought that the guy was a leprechaun and it had been a dream. He wasn't overly worried because he knew that Jack would not tolerate any other rider than him. Hell sometime Jack didn't tolerate him and Faraday found himself walking into a new town and getting a few strange looks because he was walking next to his horse and not riding on it.

Everything happened really fast after Sam had offered to pay for his horse.

"I'm looking for a few good men." Sam said as Faraday glanced at him.

"To do what?"

Faraday was surprised by the response.

"Take on a man by the name of Bartholomew Bogue."

He was even more surprised when the total number of people he had was just two.

Faraday paused to consider this. He would get paid and at the end he would have Jack back, so really there was nothing to think about. He agreed and Chisolm paid for his horse and his gear. They rode out of Amador city as the sun hit high noon.

"Do you have a bending skill Mr Faraday?" Asked Emma Cullen as they rode slowly behind Sam. Teddy Q who was riding next to Emma leaned forward in his saddle to hear the answer.

"Nope I'm as boring as can be. If I want anything doing, I have to do it myself. What about you?" Faraday asked quickly before either of them could start asking more personal questions.

"Well I'm an Earth bender and Teddy here is a Water bender. There are a couple more in town, two fire benders and another Earth bender." Explained Emma.

"Couldn't you all take on Bogue yourselves?" Asked Faraday.

"No he's too powerful. Rumour has that Bogue has two bending skills, Earth and water. He only ever uses his water bending skills when he needs to." Sam replied from the front where he had obviously been listening to the conversation.

Faraday's head shot up at that. In all of his travels he had never come across somebody who had more than one bending skill. "What?" He asked shocked.

"It's never been proven as Bogue stays well away from any fighting. He always sends in his people to do that. McCann is a Water bender and he has Denali, a Comanche assassin who is a fire bender, and he is a mean one at that. I've seen him attack and kill women and children without mercy." Said Emma.

"Bogue killed my husband and countless other people when they dared to stand up to him. He must be stopped."

Chisolm called a halt for the night when they found a relatively dry cave for them to sleep in. They all attended to their own horses, and Faraday watched with mild amusement as Emma slowly dug a trench into the earth with her power and Teddy Q filled it up with his so that the horses would have something to drink. At the front and to the left of the cave mouth Chisolm waved his arms twice and fire shot out and hit the branches that he had been collecting to make a fire.

"Well seeing as how everybody else has been contributing I guess it's up to me to go and find dinner." Faraday clapped his hands together as he stood up and reached for his guns at his belt.

"Are you sure, I could go?" Sam waved his hand lazily as his fire danced across his fingers.

"Yeah I got it. Wouldn't want people to think I wasn't pulling my weight. I'll be back soon, I hope." Faraday gave a cocky grin as he disappeared into the forest.

As soon as he was out of sight he replaced his guns into his holsters and scrubbed his hand through his hair. He was going to have to be careful not to reveal his bending powers to these people. It's not that Faraday didn't want to tell them, because he did, but if he used one, he would just naturally use the rest because they were all linked and a part of him. If they found out that he was the Avatar they would either fear him or try to exploit him, his mother's words from long ago ringing in his ears. Faraday moved slowly further into the forest as he searched the ground for signs of any game. He paused and bent down every so often to brush the ground as he spotted tracks for a young doe heading north.

He took out Maria and held her out, he walked slowly making sure not to make a sound. Suddenly he spotted the doe to his left as she darted quickly away from him. Instinctively Faraday reached out his hand, the one without the gun, and the doe paused in mid jump. He pulled his arm back and the doe started to move towards him. He knew it was a risk to use his air bending powers but they needed to eat and it was only a little thing that he used it for. Once the doe was level with him, he lifted up his other arm and because he knew the others would be expecting a bullet hole, he shot her in the head. He tucked Maria away and bent to pick up the doe, picking it up he slung it over his shoulder and started to make his way back towards the camp.

"Dinner is served." Faraday shouted with a flourish as he stepped into the clearing, only vaguely registering three sets of arms lowering to the ground at his untimely arrival.

"Faraday you crazy son of a bitch, we could have killed you then." Sam said with a sigh.

Faraday snorted a little at that because they could try, but what he said out loud was, "Sorry next time I'll give more warning." He threw his prize down on the ground and stretched out his aching muscles with a groan. "Next time let somebody with a power catch the food that was a long trek."

He glanced over at Sam who had come over to look at the doe.

"Faraday how on earth did you make such a clean kill?" Sam looked at him puzzled.

Oh crap he should have put more bullet holes in it. "Um she was sleeping when I found her?" Faraday winced when it came out as a question instead of a statement.

Sam looked at him in disbelief for a minute and then muttered, "Whatever you say man." And apparently that was that because Sam moved away and Emma and Teddy stepped forward. Emma using her power to use the rough earth to skin the doe and Teddy using his to clean it, and when that that was done they all stood back as Sam sent a blast to cook it. The whole process had taken less than half an hour.

"Well that's handy." Faraday commented as they sat down to eat.

After that they led down to sleep with Sam informing them to be ready to ride at dawn.


	2. Chapter 2

Faraday rode quickly into Volcano Springs, closely followed by Teddy Q. Why Sam had paired him up with him was a mystery, but when Faraday had gone to say something Sam had just raised his eyebrow at him and muttered "horse" under his breath.

Tying up both horses to the hitching post outside the saloon, Faraday looked around the town. He saw a large group of men over by the corral, so he started to walk over, Teddy following slowly behind him.

Faraday watched impressed as Billy Rocks won the duel with nothing but a hairpin and his own fast reflexes, and was glad when Sam's name got him an audience with Goodnight Robicheaux.

"Now I'm a water bender myself," Said Robicheaux before Faraday or Teddy could ask him, "and my good friend Billy here is an Air bender."

"What! I thought that most of the Air benders were extinct or at the very least really rare. I don't know anyone who has ever even met one, I certainly haven't." Teddy had an impressed look on his face that hadn't been there a second ago.

"Well there are still a handful around if you know where to look." Robicheaux replied slyly.

Faraday listened to the conversation in silence, as he glanced towards Billy. He had never met another Air bender, rumour had it that a few years before Faraday was born some benders from the other three groups had set out to destroy the Air benders, because they had known that the Avatar would be born into that group and they thought that he would make them more powerful than their own group.

"So what about you two, any powers to speak of?" Faraday didn't like the way that Robicheaux was looking at him when he asked that question, as if he knew somehow that Faraday did have a power.

"Well I'm a water bender Mr Robicheaux." Said Teddy politely as they all turned to look in Faraday's direction.

"Nope none to speak of. Just plain little old me." Faraday joked nervously still eying Robicheaux warily.

Robicheaux looked at him for a few more seconds as if trying to decide whether or not he should call him out on it, when he shrugged his shoulders and turned to look towards Billy.

"What say you Mon Cher shall we go with them?"

Billy turned to look at both of them and Faraday had the distinct impression that Billy was assessing them. Whatever he found, he seemed to agree with as he inclined his head slightly.

"Excellent, now how about a drink?" said Robicheaux happily.

"I was thinking more like how about two." Replied Faraday.

Faraday was immediately on alert when they entered the campsite that Sam had told them to meet him at.

Sam waited until they had hitched their horses before he introduced them to the newcomer.

"This is Vasquez. He has agreed to help us. He's a Fire bender as well." Said Sam.

"Oh good we've got ourselves a Mexican." Responded Faraday glibly.

He watched as Sam pulled Vasquez away before anything more could happen, but he was sure that he caught a trace of amusement for him.

It was sometime later when Sam, Goodnight and Billy had come back with a freshly killed buck and they were all sat around the campfire to eat, that Faraday found himself sat next to Vasquez.

"So guero, what is it that you do?" asked Vasquez.

"What do you mean?" asked Faraday pretending that he did not understand his meaning.

"What sort of bending power do you have?"

Faraday coughed and glanced around the campfire, all of the others were engaged in their own conversations, everyone that was, except for Goodnight, who was watching the two of them rather intently.

"I don't have any bending powers Mr Vasquez." Said Faraday as he quickly averted his eyes away from Goodnight.

"That is strange no?" Vasquez raised his eyebrow at him as he turned to face him more fully.

"It isn't unheard of. People in the big cities never develop any." Fararday snapped at him, a little defensive.

"I meant no disrespect Guero, I have never met someone out here with no powers is all." Said Vasquez holding his hands up in a placating gesture.

"Yeah well, you know nothing about it." Before Vasquez could say anymore, Faraday stood up quickly and made his way over to his bedroll before he led down and went to sleep.

The next stop on their journey was to collect Jack Horne and to say that he was strange was putting it mildly. He killed the Pidgeon brothers swiftly and without mercy, and Faraday supposed he could relate to that. After all, if someone had hit him over the head and he'd fallen down a cliff, he would be a mite angry as well.

He was relieved when Horne turned them down and trudged back the way he came, leading his horse behind him.

"I do believe that bear was wearing people's clothes" Faraday joked.

Sam seemed a little put out by Horne's refusal to join them.

"He's an extremely gifted Water bender, would have been good to have him on our side." He said wistfully.

Camping out in Indian Territory was not Faraday's idea of a good time, but he was perhaps the calmest of all of them, because he knew that he could take anything that attacked them. Morning came quickly and with it the sense of danger. Faraday watched as Horne scrambled up over the rock just as Red Harvest rode in to view. Everybody tensed, Goodnight's warning that where there was one there was usually more making them all weary.

Sam strode forward, handing his gun off to Vasquez as he walked passed. Apparently he spoke Comanche as the Indian dropped his kill onto the floor and cut out his liver. He passed it to Sam who took a bite and passed it back. Faraday assumed that meant they were all friends as Sam walked back to them scrubbing his hands with the sand to get the blood off them.

"His name is Red Harvest and he is an Earth bender. He's agreed to join us." Said Sam as most of them still watched Red wearily.

The trip back to Rose Creek was spent trying to determine how many Blackstone agents were in the town and if they had any bending powers. Apart from Bogue and his two associates, they soon began to realise that some of the Blackstone agents did indeed have powers. The seven of them quickly came up with a plan.

Sam went into the town first, with Billy walking beside him, because he said it made it easier for him to use his powers than if he was on his horse. It was easy to slip in while all the Blackstone agents were watching Sam and Billy. Red took to the roof while the rest of them spread out at ground level. Sam faced off against McCann, who whistled sharply for his sniper, when, after a few seconds nothing happened, Sam shouted and the sniper fell to the ground, one of Red's arrows sticking out of his back.

All at once like some sign had been passed between them, they attacked as one.

Sam shot out his hand and threw a ball of fire at the Blackstone agents and the Sheriff causing them to scatter.

Billy used his power to propel himself and occasionally his blades through the air.

Goodnight flung water at those who thought to escape around the back of the building.

Horne used a combination of his water bending and his axes to take down anyone foolish enough to get close to him

Red used his position on the building to shoot arrows into people, and when he ran out of arrows, he used his power to open up holes in the ground to catch them as they ran.

Vasquez shot fireball after fireball, never once missing his target.

Faraday shot straight up into the balcony at the men that thought they were safe up there. There was no way he was going to use his powers here, unless it was a life or death situation, and only if he couldn't use Ethel or Maria to get out of it.

Sam turned suddenly and blasted the man that was about to shot Faraday from his blind spot.

They kept fighting.

At one point Faraday found himself fighting back to back with Vasquez in the middle of the street. He could feel the intense power radiating through Vasquez as he hurled fireballs down the street. He never once missed. With a bump of shoulders they moved on.

It was about this point, when they had nearly won and Faraday was feeling rather cocky, that he made the biggest mistake of his life.

He had just shot the men who had tried to sneak up behind Goodnight, when he felt a tingling going up his spine.

"Oh no not now." Muttered Faraday under his breath, still shooting at any stragglers as they ran passed. He was still behind the building, but he was alone as Goodnight had ran off to go and help Billy.

He felt an intense heat in his hands as little bursts of fire shot from his fingers. He tried to quickly douse the flames with his water, but it had no effect. Not that he expected it to, it wouldn't make much sense for one of the Avatar's powers to be able to negate the others. He had to get back into the fight.

He stumbled around from behind the building and looked around for his people. He did a quick head count... he frowned as he only counted five, where was Vasquez? He searched quickly again and found him fighting against a Blackstone agent. He watched as the agent shot a jet of water at Vasquez, who quickly used his fire to get rid of it. The Blackstone used his distraction to send a ball of water at him, which hit him full force in the face and wrapped itself around his head causing Vasquez to choke and splutter. Vasquez hit the floor.

"No" shouted Faraday, as he moved quickly towards them, he knew he wasn't going to make it and nobody else was close enough to help. Making a split second decision he flung out his right hand and used his air bending power to blast the Blackstone agent up into the air and away from him. He flung out his left hand and threw his water power at him, or at least he tried to. Instead he somehow managed to throw a stream of fire at him while the agent was in mid- air. He screamed once and then went silent as his body thudded to the ground.

Vasquez suddenly drew in a lungful of air as the Blackstone agent's power died with him. Faraday quickly realised that the sounds of the battle had died down, and he raised his eyes up from where he had been watching Vasquez struggling to his feet.

Everybody that was left alive, and he was glad to see that all of the people he liked were, were all staring at him silently and with disbelieving looks on their faces, some even looked a little scared. The only one that didn't look at him differently was Goodnight. The expression on his face was smug, as if he had somehow guessed at Faraday's powers, and then went and orchestrated this little display so that he could be proven right.

Faraday watched as Sam approached him slowly.

"Sam I'm…" began Faraday quickly only to be cut off by a wave of Sam's hand.

"Not now, we'll talk about it later." Said Sam quietly so that the townsfolk, who were beginning to emerge from their houses now that the firefight had died down, didn't hear.

Faraday only half listened as Sam introduced himself and explained that Bogue would be back in less than a week and not the three that they had originally thought. Noticing that nobody was paying him any attention, Faraday turned silently and slipped away from the group.

"And where is it that you think you are going?" asked a Cajun voice loudly behind him.

Faraday spun around quickly and held out his hands, even though there were no weapons in them. When he saw Goodnight standing there with Billy next to him, he lowered them to rest on his holsters, as if he had meant to reach for his weapons first instead of his powers. Goodnight just raised his eyebrow as if he somehow knew that Faraday had meant to use powers first, a lazy smile on his face.

"I'm leaving, so don't even think to stop me." Said Faraday angrily as he turned back around to continue putting the saddle on Jack.

"I don't think we could even if we wanted to, right Cher." Goodnight apparently addressing this last part to Billy, as he hear a slight murmur behind him.

"Let me rephrase the question, why are you leaving?" said Goodnight, and Faraday jumped a little as his voice was a lot closer. He turned around to see them both standing well within his comfort zone.

"Are you kidding me Goodnight, you saw what happened back there." Said Faraday as he stepped around them. They were now between him and his horse, but at least he could have room to move if he needed to make a quick escape.

"I saw you save Vasquez." Said Goodnight simply, while Billy gave a tight nod behind him, apparently content to let Goodnight do the talking.

"Yeah with powers I told everyone I didn't have." Faraday slowly ran his hand down his face, felling tired all of a sudden.

"Yeah well not everyone believed that." Goodnight said slowly.

Faraday removed his hand, "What are you talking about?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well Sam and I thought there was something different about you, but we couldn't quite place it, and of course I told Billy. But when Sam told us about the doe and the bullet wound we started to suspect you had powers. We just thought that you didn't trust us enough to tell us, but now we know the real reason, you're the Avatar." Goodnight said.

Faraday felt himself go cold at that, "No I'm not, you don't know anything."

"Everybody saw you attack the Blackstone agent with Air and Fire powers, not everybody has two powers and especially not those two." Said Goodnight thoughtfully. He paused before he added, "Did you just get your fire powers now?"

Up until that moment Faraday had forgotten all about his new powers, but as soon as Goodnight called attention to it again, he felt that familiar tingling up his spine. He grunted as he felt his hand start to heat up.

"Get away from me, move back as far as you can." Faraday panted. He watched as Billy grabbed Goodnight's arm and started to pull him backwards.

Faraday fell down onto one knee as he felt like he was being consumed in fire. He shouted out as the fire started to shoot out of his fingers. He felt running footsteps through the earth as people ran over to the building where he had tied up his horse and he could hear more voices talking to Goodnight and Billy, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.

The fire continued to roar out of him until he felt like he was going to explode. He screamed out a warning for everyone to move away, when suddenly powerful jets of water blasted him from two sides, dousing the flames. He fell forward onto his stomach as a pair of hands touched his back.

"Oh guero." He heard before he fell unconscious.


End file.
